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A resident of a riverside community carries food and containers of drinking water distributed due to the drought in Careiro da Varzea, Amazonas state, Brazil, Oct. 24. Hundreds of thousands of people were affected, and animals including dolphins and fish died as the region’s water dried up. (AP/Edmar Barros)
An unprecedented drought has severely affected the lives of millions of people in the Brazilian Amazon in the final months of 2023. The situation was especially dire in the northern state of Amazonas, where dozens of riverside communities were cut off when the river level dropped too low. for navigation. . The lack of food and water has affected the lives of many other people in the region at this time, and some of those consequences still persist.
According to the Amazonas state government, more than 600,000 people have been impacted by the drought since the beginning of October. All 62 cities in Amazonas state remained in a state of emergency in late January, even as the rainy season provided some relief. Poor communities, though, still feel the effects of the record drought.
In response, the Church initiated donation crusades to riverside communities and other affected groups. A national crusade organized through the convention of Brazilian bishops and Caritas Brazil raised money to procure and distribute food and materials to communities in Amazonas. Local dioceses have also introduced donation campaigns, adding the one in Manaus, the state capital.
“The streams are dry and other people don’t have water for their crops. Cassava is a central component of their lives. Fishing is also a difficult task,” said Mgr. José Ionilton de Oliveira, bishop of Itacoatiara, of the Prelature of Marajó.
The Amazonian streams and rivers are the routes of the riverside communities, he explained. When they are less likely to get there, it is difficult for other people to go to local villages and towns to buy food.
“In many places, there is no quality water for the population. As rivers dry up, the concentration of pollutants increases, in addition to insecticides released into the water by farms and heavy metals used in mining operations,” he said last year.
According to Márcia Miranda, Caritas coordinator in the region, many communities drink contaminated water.
“Their aqueous materials have dried up and all that’s left in their pits is just mud,” he told EarthBeat.
This undated photo is an aerial view of the Madeira River with very low water levels at the height of the 2023 drought. (Courtesy of the Municipality of Porto Velho/Leandro Morais)
Extreme weather conditions have also led to the death of aquatic species in the region, Miranda said. Dozens of endangered Amazon River dolphins have died in the lakes of towns such as Tefé and Coari.
“Studies have shown that maximum temperature reduces oxygen levels in water. The heat and lack of oxygen kill fish and other animals. The consequences of this scenario will continue to be felt for a long time,” he said.
High temperatures have affected fish specimens and led to high mortality, which experts say will affect fish stocks in the coming years. Aquatic mammals, such as river dolphins, were already endangered, and drought worsened their situation.
In Manaus, the largest city in the Amazon, the low level of the rivers complicated navigation. Companies had to cut production for more than a week, sending thousands of workers home.
The dry season in Brazil has also been complicated in the city. In addition to high temperatures and low humidity, the other Manausians periodically face smoky air due to nearby wildfires in the rainforest.
“The day we couldn’t even see the river when we crossed it into a nearby neighborhood,” Fr. José Alcimar Araújo, vice president of the Caritas organization of the Archdiocese of Manaus.
Firefighters work to put out a fire in the Amazon rainforest in the face of drought and high temperatures in the rural municipality of Careiro Castanho, Amazonas state, Brazil, on Oct. 21. (AP/Edmar Barros)
Some days the rain dispersed the smoke. But it takes a few days without rain for the blank air to disappear.
“Children and the elderly suffer from poor air quality and clinics are overcrowded with patients with respiratory problems,” Araújo said. People have even started donning masks when they pass out, a common practice at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. .
For decades, the city of Manaus has evolved without urban planning, and many other people have built their homes on the banks of small streams (called igarapés) that flow into the Rio Negro.
“Many streams are dry or have low water levels. Most get wastewater, which is now more concentrated. The smell is terrible,” the priest said.
Araújo is working on a project to promote the sanitation of small rivers and igarapés to avoid the contamination of the region’s larger rivers. He plans to present it to potential funders this year.
“We also discussed the consequences of the drought in the Archdiocesan Commission on Integral Ecology. It will have to be transparent that this total crisis has been caused by human action,” he said.
Cave paintings are seen at the archaeological site of Ponta das Lajes, in the rural domain of Manaus, Brazil, on Oct. 28. The archaeological site was exposed as a result of a drought on the Rio Negro, revealing cave paintings that archaeologists date to between 1,000 and 2,000 years old. (AP/Edmar Barros)
The Commission for Integral Ecology founded earlier this year in Manaus, of which Andreza Gomes Weil, a professor of environmental studies at the Federal University of Amazonas, is a member, explained that the organization conducted studies in all parishes and communities of the archdiocese to identify ecological projects already underway.
“We have noticed that this is still an incipient debate for Catholics in the region. People are really aware of the ecological problems of Manaus, but most of them don’t see those problems as something that the Church portrays,” Weil told EarthBeat.
The commission’s study also showed that the maximum number of Catholics do not participate in government councils responsible for discussing and making decisions on environmental policies.
“In more than 70% of the parishes in Manaus, there is no participation in these councils, which are basic for political participation in environmental matters,” he added.
The commission now wants to inspire clerics to reflect on these issues and to build more participatory relationships with the teams and bodies that design environmental policies in Manaus.
“We want to replace this. Cardinal Leonardo Steiner (Archbishop of Manaus) encouraged parishes to start discussions about our environmental conditions. Even the catechism includes those topics,” Weil said.
An undated photograph shows the lowest point of an Amazon stream during the 2023 drought. (Courtesy of the Government of Brazil/Rodrigo Cabral)
P. de Mexican origin. Martín Islas, a resident of Humaitá, believes that the Amazonian Church makes a special effort to raise awareness about environmental issues through biblical and ecological education.
“Combining theological elements with ecological themes is a way to put the environment at the center of the mystery of creation,” he told EartBeat.
In his opinion, “the environment should be understood not only as something that is external to individuals, given that it’s part of the spiritual and social dimensions of existence.”
In Humaitá, the Madeira River is frequently polluted due to chemicals used in mining operations. Intense boat traffic also causes increased pollution, with continuous spills of oil and fuel into the water. The city’s wastewater is also discharged into the water.
“Education will have to start with young people and adolescents, so that we can empower the next generations to broaden their own ecological vision of the world,” Islas said. “I’m concerned that changing the mindset of today’s generation is a complicated task right now. “